Muntingia calabura 50+ seeds "Jamaican cherry" RARE

It is a small tree 7-12 meters tall with tiered and slightlydrooping branches. It has serrated leaves 2.5-15 cm long and 1-6.5 cmwide. The flowers are small ,white and slightly malodorous. It givesrise to 1-1.5 cm light red fruit. The fruit is edible, sweet andjuicy, and contains a large number of tiny (0.5 mm) yellow seeds.

It is a pioneer species that thrives in poor soil, able totolerate acidic and alkaline conditions and drought. Its seeds aredispersed by birds and fruit bats. It is cultivated for its ediblefruit, and has become naturalised in some other parts of the tropics,including southeastern Asia. As a pioneer plant, it could helpcondition the soil and make it habitable to other plants.

In Mexico, the fruits are eaten and sold in markets. The fruitscan be processed into jams and the leaves can be used for making tea.In Brazil, the trees are planted along river banks. The fruitsfalling from the tree attract fish that are then caught. In thePhilippines and Indonesia the fruits are usually eaten mostly bychildren although it is not sold in markets.

In traditional medicine, its flowers can be used as an antisepticand to treat abdominal cramps.

The timber from the Jamaican cherry is reddish-brown. It iscompact, durable and lightweight and can be used for carpentry. Itcould also be used as firewood. The bark can be used to produce ropesand fiber for bark skirts. Due to its ability to grow in poor soiland its effective propagation by means of bats and birds, it could beused for reforestation projects.

In India, it is used in urban gardens for its ability to grow fastand attractiveness to small fruit eating birds such as theflower peckers. It is also commonly planted in parking lots.